Night Incantation
Peter W. Knell
About this work:
Much of my music is very restive, teeming with activity and constant motion. In composing Night Incantation, my goal was to compose something entirely different, to sublimate this restlessness into a simpler, more austere intensity. Also, rather than feature the aggregate force of the entire orchestra, I sought to highlight the expressive voices of individual instruments, especially some of the less frequently-utilized ones, such as the tuba, piccolo, bass clarinet, and bassoon.
Night Incantation begins with barely audible yet dense string sonorities progressing at a glacial pace. Against this, the tuba intones a mournful lament. The woodwinds join the tuba, building to an initial climax. As this dies away, the woodwinds assume the accompanying role, while the strings elaborate the lament. The final phrase of the lament is taken by the brass, which build to an intensified return of the earlier climax. Instead of dying away, however, this climax continues to build, eventually reaching a powerfully dissonant chord. As this chord dissipates, a residue of string harmonics remains, against which the woodwinds deconstruct the lament. The piece concludes with a reminiscence of the opening string passage and eventually to a final sigh in the tuba.
Night Incantation was composed during August, 1998, in Charlottesville, VA.
Year composed: 1998
Duration: 00:08:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Standard Orchestra
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: triple-wind orchestra with standard doublings
requires D trumpet